for October 2
Memorial of the Holy Guardian Angels

In today’s first reading the Lord is speaking to Job out of the storm, the traditional way God communicates with humans in the Old Testament. In a tone ironic if not sarcastic, the Lord asks Job if he was ever responsible for the coming of dawn or entered into the sources of the sea. Then nor can he be responsible for shaking the wicked from the earth or for the proud being shattered. Since he has never seen the gates of death and darkness, how can he know who is within?

More generally, if he has not contemplated the breadth of the whole earth, of course thought then to be flat, he could not lead or assign others to either the dwelling place of darkness or the abode of darkness. Some belief in life after death and judgment is seemingly implied here. The Lord concludes almost mockingly that Job hardly knows just because of his old age.

While Job replies quite humbly that he will not speak again, the key is that he does so in answer to the Lord; he finally got what he sought, what he far from patiently demanded: that God address him. For us who are less bold, the psalm refrain inviting the Lord to guide us to eternal life is probably more than adequate.

Our gospel is distinctive because the church is commemorating the Guardian Angels. Their celebration became a feast of the universal church in the seventeenth century, but the belief goes back centuries. Saint Basil the Great in the fourth century wrote: Beside each believer stands an angel as protector and shepherd leading one to life.

The disciples in the gospel ask Jesus who is the greatest in the kingdom of God, not only a too static understanding of the kingdom but also a boastful even arrogant one if they are applying their request to themselves as they do elsewhere. In reply Jesus calls over a child which in Jewish society would have meant someone under the age of twelve. The disciples are told they must turn, meaning change their attitude, and become like children to be part of the kingdom where the greatest are those who are humble like children in the sense of recognizing their dependence on others and on God.

Jesus then goes further by indicating that receiving a child in his name is receiving him just as Jesus in receiving the disciples and us in the name of the Father rendered them and us children of God. Then we encounter the verse most related to today’s commemoration. We are not to despise the little ones because their angels are in heaven with unrestricted access to the Father. Little ones clearly could be children, but elsewhere in the gospels it can mean disciples in general and so including us or disciples of little faith and so perhaps sometimes also including us.

Let me conclude with what Saint Bernard of Clairvaux wrote in the twelfth century. These angels should fill you with respect, inspire devotion and instill confidence: respect for their presence, devotion because of their loving service, and confidence because of their protection.
—Edward O’Donnell SJ

Today’s readings can be found on US Conference of Catholic Bishops website.